1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a system for influencing the travel dynamics of an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the future, automobiles can be expected to increasingly be outfitted with complex systems for control and/or regulation of the travel performance. Known are systems for braking regulation and/or control locking preventers (ABS), braking slip regulators!, systems for drive slip regulation (ASR), systems for steering control and/or regulation (four-wheel steering), systems for chassis regulation and/or control (preferably for influencing the vertical motion of the vehicle), systems for travel dynamics regulation (preferably for influencing the movement about the longitudinal and vertical axes of the vehicle), systems for electronic transmission control of a vehicle, and systems for engine management. Such systems are presented, e.g., in the article "The next step in automotive electronic control" Convergence 88, pp. 83-89.
Common to such systems is that they need information on the movement of the vehicle relative to the road. Required here, first of all, is measuring the vehicle's longitudinal, transverse and yaw movements with suitable sensors.
Known from the patent application WO 90/00735 are sensors of micromechanical design, where force components respectively linear accelerations and/or angular accelerations are measured in several dimensions.
The German patent disclosure 37 69 508 proposes sensors of micromechanical design which detect the tilt movements of an automobile in at least two tilt axes. This makes it possible to trigger passenger safety devices, such as belt tightener, airbag, emergency blinking system and roll-over bar, whenever the vehicle exceeds certain limits for the tilt movements being sensed.